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Welcome to the final edition of Sports Media Weekly, not only for 2013 but for the foreseeable future.

Ken Fang of Fang’s Bites and I use this final program to look back at some of the notable sports media stories for 2013 and what we can expect for 2014.

Among the items up for discussion:

The launch of Fox Sports 1;
Rights fees for the U.S. Open and Canadian NHL changing hands;
The return of Keith Olbermann to ESPN;
NCAA Basketball coverage changes coming in 2014;
Ratings, ratings, ratings;
The passing of Pat Summerall and Ken Venturi and the retirement of Tim McCarver and Dan Dierdorf;
Looking ahead to 2014 with the Winter Olympics and the World Cup.

For the second portion of the show Ken pulled a fast one on me as he spoke with members of the media on what was supposed to be their look back at the year, but instead they directed their remarks elsewhere:

We begin the program looking at news that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may be taking a look at relaxing the blackout rules sports leagues impose on local television coverage of sports if the local’s team’s arenas are not sold out.

We next take a look at the college bowl season which gets underway this week and ESPN’s plans for what it calls a “Megacast” of the BCS Championship Game.

NBC today announced its 1,539+ hours of coverage for the Sochi Winter Olympics which begin in February. In the news it was announced that all major events will be telecast live and then re-played in prime time–a move the three of us agree will benefit viewers and should not negatively impact NBC’s prime time ratings.

We wrap-up the news segment by looking at how ESPN has won a duPont Award for a segment on Outside the Lines while the show appears to be less of a priority in Bristol.

Ken and I will return on Monday, December 30th for our look back at the top sports media news of 2013 and what we can expect for the new year.

We start the show by looking back at the big sports media story from a week ago, the news that Rogers Communications has won the sole national NHL media rights in Canada away from TSN and CBC. We look at the impact the deal will have in Canada as well as what it may mean for sports rights deals here in the U.S.A.

We move on to the NFL and the news from Fox Sports that it has already sold its entire ad inventory for February’s Super Bowl XLVIII. The news proves once again that football is king on TV and with sponsors.

We look back at the spectacular weekend of college football and, in particular, CBS’ coverage of the Alabama/Auburn Iron Bowl. We all give kudos to CBS for its coverage of the game and striking the right tone both in pictures and in words from Verne Lundquist, Gary Danielson, and Tracey Wolfson.

As ESPN prepares for coverage of its final World Cup for a while we discuss the potential U.S. rights fee battle for the UEFA Champions League matches. Fox Sports currently holds the rights, but ESPN and NBC are looking to snatch the package away.

We wrap the show by discussing Deadspin’s purchase of a baseball Hall of Fame vote and how that may shake out.

Even though ESPN does not have the television rights to the World Series, it will have a strong presence at this year’s Fall Classic.

Baseball Tonight will report on the road for the World Series, beginning on Tuesday, Oct. 22, with a World Series preview show at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Baseball Tonight will air before and after most World Series games (generally at 7 p.m. and midnight) with Karl Ravech, Baseball Hall of Famer Barry Larkin, John Kruk, Curt Schilling, Buster Olney and Tim Kurkjian providing analysis and commentary.

ESPN Radio does have the radio broadcast rights to the World Series. Dan Shulman and Orel Hershiser will call each game of the series.

ESPN.com will also be on site with contributors including ESPN MLB Insiders Olney, Kurkjian, Jayson Stark, Jerry Crasnick, Jim Caple and Jim Bowden. It will also create and maintain a dedicated World Series page with extensive game coverage, news, analysis, scouting reports, expert predictions, polls, videos and statistics;